


Revision

by sarahsharpe1231



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 19:12:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6389653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahsharpe1231/pseuds/sarahsharpe1231
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before Barry goes back in time to get Eobard Thawne's help, Cisco asks him for a life-altering favor. (Beginning of 2x17.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Revision

**Author's Note:**

> Whether Barry does it accidentally or, like I wrote here, Cisco asks Barry to do it...I desperately want Barry to re-write history and make it so Cisco finds out about his powers earlier! It's not that I don't LOVE Cisco's currently storyline (I mean, HELLO! Have you SEEN anything I've written recently?)...it's just that if I could change one thing about season 1, it's that I want Cisco to know about his powers when Hartley returns to Central City. If we're not getting a Pied Piper/Vibe rematch in the near future, this is the next best thing! Hope you guys enjoy my fangirl ramblings! :D
> 
> PS: Watch "The Flash | The Flashback: Episode 216 | The CW" on YouTube to see where I got that info for the first paragraph. ;)

After just barely coming back from Earth-2 alive, Harry and Caitlin weren’t afraid to tell Barry how stupid they thought going back in time was. ‘Crazy’ and ‘asinine’ were the exact words they used. Cisco, on the other hand, kept quiet…just like when Barry was planning to go back in time and save his mother a year ago. Back then, it took Barry privately coming after Cisco, begging him to say what was on his mind, for him to express his concerns—that he didn’t want to lose his best friend—so Barry was surprised when Cisco was the one to come running after him.

“Hey! Barry…?” he heard Cisco yell behind him as he walked down to the pipeline.

“Hey, man!” Barry said, turning around. “What’s up?”

“Dude, there’s…there’s something I want to talk to you about.” Cisco said.

“What is it?” Barry asked.

“So you’re actually planning on doing this, right?” Cisco asked. “You’re actually going to go back…to when we were working with him?”

“Yeah, Cisco, I am,” Barry said. “I mean, you guys are great…but Eobard Thawne was the only man that ever genuinely wanted me to get faster. He never stopped pushing me. And that…that is what I need right now. It’s the only way I’m ever going to stop Zoom.”

“Okay,” Cisco said. “I mean, no matter how much of a _horrible_ idea I think this is, if this is what you want to do…I can’t stop you. …But I do have one request.”

“Yeah?” Barry asked, desperate to know what his friend was thinking.

“You find me,” Cisco said. “You tell me that you’re from the future…and you tell me about my powers. All of them. Even the ones I don’t have yet.”

A small chuckle escaped Barry’s lips…but he stopped himself when he realized that Cisco was dead serious.

“Cisco, I…I’m not gonna do that,” Barry said.

“Why not?” Cisco asked.

“Are…are you serious?” Barry responded, flabbergasted. “Dude, I’m already screwing with the timeline just by going back! I’m not gonna screw with it anymore than I need to! You know better than anyone how hard temporal backlash can hit.”

“You see, man, here’s the thing, though…this _is_ something you need to do,” Cisco said.

“And why is that?” Barry asked.

“Because I want to have my badass powers already!” Cisco said.

“Cisco…” Barry retorted, raising an eyebrow.

“Fine!” Cisco conceded. “…Because I think I know another way to defeat Zoom.”

“How?” Barry asked.

“Barry, when Reverb was attacking you…how did you feel?” Cisco asked.

“I don’t know!” Barry said, thinking. “I guess, like…like I couldn’t move any bone in my body. Almost like when I was trying to run through The Turtle’s pulses but more along the lines of…the Speed Force feeling like it was nowhere within reach. I just felt…utterly powerless.”

“Exactly,” Cisco said. “And that’s how we’re gonna beat him.”

“Cisco, Reverb’s dead,” Barry reminded him.

“No, not Reverb—me,” Cisco said. “Reverb didn’t fight Zoom because he was working for him—he was loyal to him. Because Zoom was going to kill him anyway. There is nothing holding me back from hitting that monster with everything I have…with everything I’m capable of. Tell me that I have these powers. Give me more time to learn how to use them…and there’s no way we won’t be able to stop him.”

“Cisco, I hear you, man,” Barry said. “Loud and clear. But you’re forgetting one thing: your life…is far too fragile for me to mess with again. Wells killed you because I planted the idea in your head that he wasn’t who he said he was. You almost faded from existence after _I_ decided to lock him up and strand him in this time for just a few hours longer than he was meant to be here! I’m _not_ gonna gamble on your life again. You’re too important to lose forever, bro.”

“Barry, after the singularity opened and you decided to fly solo…for those six months, do you know how I felt?” Cisco asked.

Barry shook his head.

“I was _terrified_ ,” Cisco said. “A man who killed me and betrayed all of us told me I had powers and I was haunted by the fear that they would turn me into someone like him until the day Harry told you and Caitlin about me. I worked for CCPD trying to get my mind off of it but…it wasn’t something I could hide from. Every time I looked in the mirror, I saw…Frankenstein’s monster. I lived and died by his hand— _literally_. Erased from existence or not, I’d forever be his to control. Two months ago, we saw that that was true. But Barry, if _you_ tell me and not him…I’ll be free. That entire summer won’t be wasted because of me wallowing in my own sorrows. It’ll be spent training to become a hero, like you. Barry, if there’s one person I trust more than anyone on this Earth, it’s you…and I trust that you’ll be the superhero—the teammate—the friend…I know you are. And right now? It’s our best bet to stop Zoom. What do you say?”

Barry took a few seconds to come up with an answer.

“If you really want me to do this…I know the perfect time to go back to,” he said.

“Thank you, bro,” Cisco said. “I won’t let you down.”

“I just hope this new future’s what you want it to be,” Barry said. “I can’t promise you that.”

“I know,” Cisco said. “But I’m willing to take that risk. Good luck.”

“You, too,” Barry said.

Cisco pulled Barry in for a hug. His future…his _life_ …was in his friend’s hands. He had absolute faith in Barry, though, and knew that, if his plan worked, it would only make things better. He then let go, gave Barry a nod, and headed back to the cortex where Caitlin and Harry were waiting. They watched on the monitor as Barry moved into the accelerator ring and held their breath in anticipation as he began to run.


End file.
